


Let the Cold Steal Us Away

by Fyliwion



Series: 30 Kisses [15]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: 30 Kisses Challenge, Angst, Emo, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Forgiveness, Love, Love Confessions, Perfect Blue - Freeform, Romance, Winter, kid reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25702492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fyliwion/pseuds/Fyliwion
Summary: The snow swirled around Aoko, wrapping her in it's embrace, and letting her forget.
Relationships: Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid & Nakamori Aoko, Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid/Nakamori Aoko
Series: 30 Kisses [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713385
Kudos: 18





	Let the Cold Steal Us Away

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back! Sorry. It was a long week, and I was a bit overwhelmed with some person things and needed a break. I managed to get some writing done on my chapter epic that I hopefully can start posting in the next month or so though-- so yay for that! Here it is a day early, and have some extreme fluff and feels with a good dose of winter to cut through this summer heat. 
> 
> 30 Kisses Challenge  
> Theme #15: Perfect Blue

_So sorry your world is tumbling down  
_ _I'll watch you through these nights  
_ _Rest your head and go to sleep  
_ _'Cause my child, this is not our farewell  
_ _This is not our farewell_

_-Within Temptation  
Our Farewell _

* * *

She felt a gentle kiss brush against her forehead causing her eyelids to flutter open from the darkness. For a moment, she swore she heard something murmured in her ear before she looked up.

A snowflake.

Only a snowflake.

The cold wind tousled her hair as she lay on the ground in the park staring up at the dark sky above her. The first snowfall of the season, while Aoko looked up at the endless eternity that hung between her and the heavens. The winter wind whipped about her for a moment stealing away the emptiness that hung inside of her, and she vaguely wondered if it could replace the blades of fate that had decided to pierce her heart, but no, not even that couldn't take away the haunted look in her eyes.

Her lip trembled slightly as another snowflake fell against her cheek mixing with a drop of water that fell from her eye. Quickly she blinked it back, sitting up in the grass and fighting the fact she felt her throat tighten as she did so.

A slow beating came from her heart, steady and numb as though it were a dying ember in a forgotten fire. There was no sun to reawaken any warmth she may have felt, but to her the dark overcast and bitter snow seemed to reflect her emotions in a way no sunlight could begin to touch.

Funny that she hadn't cried. The one tear that had fallen was the nearest she'd come, but it was stupid to cry anyway. What reason did she have to cry? After all she'd known from the beginning the truth, so in reality it hadn't even been a surprise.

In reality she should have been fine with it.

So why did it feel like she was lying to herself?

And why could she still not bring herself to go home.

Never in her memory could she remember feeling quite as alone as she did at the moment she saw his face. Never in her life did she feel quite as betrayed as the second blue eyes caught hers in shock, turning just in time to make out her face. Never had she dreamed that hearing her name die on his lips could actually kill something inside of her.

The sharp piercing of snow on her skin caused a hysterical laugh to start to bubble on her lips.

She never thought that the bitter cold could help ease the pain in a way no person could. Who would have thought that the small flakes dancing about her could be better companions than any mortal. The white ice that shimmered like fallen stars in the evening light playing about her like angels who lost their way.

Just as lonely and forgotten as she felt.

It didn't help that she knew she was wallowing in self pity. In a way she was being selfish, acting as she was like some brat who should have rightfully known what was coming. Her heart had screamed that it was "too" coincidental. It was "too" happenstance. That Hakuba "might" be right.

Everything pieced together neatly and she'd only wished to be blind so she would never be faced with the truth that hung directly before her. So when the naked truth was revealed in all its glory, and those damned eyes met hers with some bloody emotion she'd never seen hanging in them before-

She'd broken his poker face, and she would have traded immortality if it simply meant she could have given it back to him. If it only meant that she could keep going on obliviously without ever facing the truth.

She was selfish.

Because in the end she realized that the truth wasn't what had killed her, it was losing him.

" _Aoko…"_

_The words fell off his lips, each letter dropping to the ground with renewed pain. Silence cut through as he finished saying it, unable to make out any other response._

_She swore she saw fear in his eyes._

_A gentle wind picked up his white cloak causing it to flutter around him like the white wings of an angel if not for the dark shadows that hid the corners and encroached on the pure surface. Not dark enough to be a fallen angel, but treading in the fine line that hid in gray's._

_Not black and not white, not good nor evil, there was no such thing as angels or demons in the wonderland she'd fallen into. In every life there is a single moment where all the fears and dreams must collide to form a second more terrifying than any other a person could ever face. Whether it be in the face of death or life each individual faces usually without ever knowing._

_Staring into the perfect blue eyes of a fallen angel, she felt it strike home and her reality crumble._

_Funny how there was no strangled cry. No painstaking scream. No heart-wrenching sob. No bittersweet yells of no._

_Instead she felt herself asked almost inaudibly, "Do I know you?"_

_Funny how that seemed to strike harder then any slap may have reached. A bullet to the heart she suspected may have caused less impact then her words. Honestly she didn't even know why she asked. It was him. There was no doubt. Of course she knew him and there was really no point in even asking. Better questions might have been, "What were you thinking?" or "Do you hate me that much?" or even a simple, "Why?"_

_Except at the moment she barely didn't know him at all. KID was a man she'd only seen. Kaito was a friend she'd thought she'd known, and this man? This man was a faceless stranger that was a shade she'd danced with in some life she no longer remembered._

_The Phantom before her was a twisted imitation of a man she loved, and the pain didn't simply threaten to consume her._

_It swallowed her whole and left an empty shell breathless and without even tears to heal a shattered soul._

" _Ao-" this time the name died as he tried to get it out. "Ao-" he started again before his blue eyes closed and she saw his wings drop behind him like an angel whose forgotten how to fly and had been condemned to damnation._

_No pride. No greed. No wrath. No jealousy. No envy. No lust. No sloth. No sins lay upon his face._

_Just innocence and hurt._

_Innocence and the knowledge of losing everything he ever lived for shone brighter than the noonday sun, and around him winter took it all away._

_Stripping him bare as the midnight hour chimed in._

_He stood alone with only the lies he told, all the fears he'd ever carried with him before her, and blue eyes that told her every emotion he'd ever hidden._

" _I don't know you" she whispered softly._

_He gave her one last glance before his masks were rearranged and hid his sapphire eyes behind a layer of ice._

" _I don't know you."_

_She never saw where the monocle came from, only that it appeared in his hand as he looked down and replaced it over his eye. No longer did emotions hang barren in his face._

_Just an empty mask._

_Sharp empty eyes met hers and he gave her a sweeping bow._

" _I know."_

The snow fell harder against her, but she never brushed it away as she sat on one of the cold stone benches that lined the path through the park near her home. Even as the night fell she couldn't bring herself to head home, not yet at least. 

At least she was alone.

At home she would have to face her father. At home she'd become exactly what Kaito was, an alias. She would lie, and then lie again. She'd fabricate some story that was as far from the truth as she could get and knowing every second that if her father had any idea of the truth he'd never forgive her.

She had hated KID with a passion that could be matched by little else, yet she couldn't turn him in when she knew the truth. She couldn't hand the man her father had been searching for all her life, but instead would lie for his sake.

He had in all likelihood fled far away from her, and yet she would still lie for his sake.

Thank God for the cold.

The chill almost cut away the flaws from her skin, trying to leave her as pure as she had been before the night had stolen it away.

The cold caressed her cheek like a forbidden lover whose arms sought to wrap around her in a comforting hold, so tight she thought she would burst, and as she felt the breeze capture her in its embrace she broke.

She'd betrayed him.

She'd turned on him.

And while he may have been KID, and may have been the man she hated most, he had also been there for her whenever she needed him most.

Even her father failed at that.

And she'd turned on him leaving her completely alone.

Embracing the cold.

She felt tears pricking her eyes as the snow swarmed around her drawing her closer and she settled in its arms for a moment almost able to imagine it was him.

Then there was heat.

Sudden and nearly scorching against her frozen skin.

Two arms setting around her tightly and a hiss that was sharp causing it to tighten. She sunk into the arms from exhaustion.

"Your freezing,” came the soft words in her ear. "Kill me for this later, but I'm not going to let you catch your death like this. You’re not even wearing a proper sweater!" A thick coat was draped around her shoulders, and she was drawn closer.

Funny how his scent was so addicting, so intoxicating. How his warmth was like the center of a candle whose light pulled you closer even when you knew you'd get burned.

"You didn't leave" she whispered in his arms unable to move from the hold they were in. She could barely think more so consciously act upon any idea that came.

She felt him fidget, but not draw away. Dimly she wondered how horrid she must look to cause him to be so daring. Usually he'd never risk it even before last night. His moves were nervous, but he didn't let go. 

“Your father called me. He was worried since you hadn't come home after going out early on. When they sent out the weather warnings he called me seeing if I knew where you were. I went out to look for you since he had to finish up his files before the storm hit."

Her head hung and for a moment she wished she was back in the cold. Of course. They may care about her in their own ways, but when it came to it she was alone and soon Kaito would be gone leaving her completely alone.

Completely-

She didn't realize she'd started crying until he pushed up her cheek to stare down at her face and brush them away.

"Idiot" he murmured, flicking them into the wind. "What are you doing that for?" He shook his head pulling her back into more of a makeshift hug this time. "You aren't supposed to cry. Everything's suppose to fine now- Once we get home you can call your father-"

The wind swirled about them in flurries of snow. She saw white wings behind him again and shook her head vehemently before shutting her eyes and burying her head into his shirt muttering "Don't" as loudly as her beaten voice could manage.

"Aoko?"

"No. I won't call my father. I… I can't."

She could feel him freeze around her. The ice and snow that had so easily etched away her bitter emotions worked they're way on the sun that had given them back. His voice was an echo when he said her name, "Aoko."

"I lied."

She took no other breath but kept her fingers wound in his shirt as she said it. "I lied." She was breathless, but her pulse quickened with every word and she dared herself to keep going. "Last night. When I said I didn't know you? I="

"Ao-"

"I do know you."

"Aoko-"

"Don't leave. Please don't leave me. I don't hate you. Don't leave. Everyone always leaves me alone, but not you." Her nails nearly cut through the material and back into her palms leaving marks. "Please not you too."

He didn't speak at first instead kept his arms loosely where they were around her. After a second however he placed his hand gently across her forehead and she nearly felt him scowl. "You're feverish."

"You didn't promise. Promise you won't leave," she kept her hold on him, her breath jagged as she broke in a cough- words eluding her. She felt his cool hand brush her cheek wincing.

"If you've caught pneumonia Aoko I'll never forgive myself. You've probably made yourself sick being out here with those flimsy clothes," his arms closed tighter around her as if trying to warm her up and fight back the winter cold.

She felt a sob escape her throat turning into another cough at his light off topic words, "You're going to leave me." The resignation sunk in as he spoke. His best friend was simply a second thought to his night job. Now she knew so he'd leave and move on. Travel to foreign countries and see the world, now that she wasn't holding him back. Now that she knew he had no reason to stay.

He shifted his arms a little, "I know very well you hate KID, and I also know you'd probably kill me if you weren't half dead from the cold and quite feverish. Now let's get you home and get something warm in you alright?" She felt his head turn to the cold and realized he was doing nearly the same thing she'd done earlier. Let the cold take it all away and steal the pain on icy wings.

But she was tired of thieves.

"Kaito?" It was a fight, but she forced her voice to be calm and usual. None of the panicked breathless sound that had carried in it before.

It caught his attention at least, "Yes?"

She dared to meet his eyes, except the little courage she'd had melted the minute those deep blue abysses met hers. She couldn't tell him what she thought. Of course he'd do what was best- and there wasn't much difference whether she was his best friend or if she felt she was in love with him.

If anything the last emotion just tossed her away like any other girl who'd ever had a crush on the illusive boy.

It might've been something in her eyes though that caused him to narrow his and stare for a long moment, "What is it?"

Her heart was pounding in her chest and she opened her mouth to get out the words only to be caught by a wracking cough instead. In a second strong arms had her gently lifted, and cradled in his arms- holding her safely.

"What if I loved you?"

She'd barely said it but risked it as the almost inaudible words fell upon his ears. She never knew if she might've said it had she not been feverish and desperate. She couldn't lose him- wouldn't lose him.

He didn't even move. The thing that struck her first is there was no change in him, except for a soft reluctant sigh as he shook his head ever so slight, "You don't love me." He didn't let go as he forced himself to go on, "You can't. Let this be our farewell alright? I'll take you home, in the morning you probably won't even remember this and you'll be grateful to be gone with me."

"Not true," she protested.

"I'm not the type for love. People may moon over me or dream of catching the elusive thief. Others may believe their heart has been stolen away with a heist or misplaced by the magician, yet in the end they simply forget once their true love comes. Love was not woven into the threads of fate that make up our lives. Liars and thieves were meant only to have flings and anything like love only comes to tragedy. So trust me Aoko, you don't love me." There was never a catch in the lines, yet she noticed that sadness still tinged them. They'd been friends too long for her to believe what he said, and hearts didn't listen to stupid rules anyway.

She looked up blinking back what she supposed were tears asking softly, "Can they love?"

She saw him break for a second time- no where near as shattering as the night before, but his face softened and eyes flash just before he gave in.

"Yes Aoko. Yes they can."

The pair stood wrapped in the snow ignoring the cold, instead letting themselves fly without wings. They were halfway to Eden and not quite out of hell, passing over a wonder wall that had threatened to separate them for eternity.

But they were not immortal and neither had eternity for their sins to be forgiven.

Neither wished to be God of the new world, but neither did they dare face what would happen if they let themselves be separated by the divine laws separating them both. To her he may have still been a fallen angel- but that still meant he was her angel.

To him she was simply a saving grace.

"You won't leave?" came her broken voice from his shirt front.

The thrill of the forbidden, the knowledge that for both it wasn't something they could have, and yet _only_ they could have.

He shook his head running his hand along her cheek, "No I won't leave."

They stared at each other eyes unhidden and opened up their windows to the soul.

Saying: _"You're the only one."_

So, amidst the ice and snow and the bitter storm around them that fought to steal their hearts, Aoko found herself cradled safely in a warm embrace.

Felt a kiss brush gently across her frozen lips.

Found herself drowning in the heat of eyes that were a perfect blue.


End file.
